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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoCHRIS RUSSELL | DISPATCHOhio State University researchers Matthew J. During and Lei Cao are experimenting with ways to stimulate mice to turn white fat into more beneficial brown fat.

Ohio State University researchers have triggered a neurological process in mice that they believe could one day help people lose weight.

Their research found that physical, social and sensory stimulation converted some of the animals’ energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.Scientists know they can turn white fat into brown fat through exposure to cold. But the OSU research team said it changed the fat makeup of mice in the absence of cold. The animals were housed at a temperature of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It’s a dramatic finding,” said Matthew J. During, who is the study leader and a neuroscientist. “You have to put animals in cold environments for weeks to see the same instinctive changes we’ve seen.”

The research, recently published in the journal Cell Metabolism, found that mice put in an “enriched environment” — a space equipped with running wheels and a changing array of toys and mazes — had a significant reduction in white fat, including a roughly 50 percent decrease in abdominal fat. Groups of as many as 20 mice were placed in the enriched environment, while control mice were housed in groups of five in smaller, standard lab containers without toys. Both groups of mice received unlimited food and water.

The researchers saw results after just four weeks, said Lei Cao, the lead author and a molecular virologist.

Forcing the animals outside of their comfort zone, both physically and socially, helped them become leaner, she said.In the enriched environment, “They have to deal with their peers,” Cao said, adding that such findings could have implications for texting teenagers who might find face-to-face social interaction awkward. The mild stress that goes along with that can be beneficial.

The research team now is looking at ways to do the same in humans, Cao said. The goal is to use gene therapy to reprogram part of the brain in overweight people so their biochemical makeup more closely mirrors that of people with a more ideal body weight. Cao and During have secured patents for certain gene-therapy techniques.

“We believe there’s a need out there to have the approach we’re doing,” During said.

During and Cao showed in previous research that an enriched environment also curbed cancer growth in mice.

Both are particularly interested in a subgroup of about 1.3 million extremely obese Americans as the target market for a drug aimed at correcting a chemical imbalance in the brain and inducing a shift from white to brown fat in patients.The drug is being developed by Obgenex Inc., of which During is president and CEO.

This year, the company received $100,000 from the Ohio Third Frontier’s Technology Validation and Start-up Fund, though more funding will be needed to commercialize the product, a process likely to take seven to eight years, During said.

The technology would have a built-in molecular switch that can be turned off so excessive weight loss does not occur after a target weight is reached, according to a Third Frontier document. The single treatment, administered through an injection in the brain, would last a lifetime, During said. Patients would not need to make significant lifestyle changes, adhere to a strict diet, or experience the many side effects associated with drugs or bariatric surgery, according to the Third Frontier document. That’s especially important for people with a particular gene mutation that can fuel binge eating, researchers say.